Page 132 of Taste of Blood

“I don’t know the human toll yet, but I saw a lot of bodies and paramedics helping people. The club itself is a mess.”

He wrings his hands in distress. “Who would do something like this?”

I’m wary of telling him more than he needs to know, but I also want to warn him. “This isn’t the only den to be hit tonight.”

“Oh no. Is it someone who has it out for the Clan?”

“I don’t know,” I lie. “Just be careful when you’re away from here. Or better yet, stay in the building for now.”

“But it wasn’t safe either,” he insists.

“They didn’t get up here, did they?”

“No,” he agrees. “I hate this.”

“I do too.”

♦ ♦ ♦

It’s after midnight when I finally leave the club. We managed to get all the wounded vamps fed and taken care of. Some were so badly injured they had to be kept overnight in one of the club’s holding rooms. One in particular was shot nine times and was close to blood fever.

I’m bone-tired when I get home, but I can’t sleep. I take a shower and make myself a drink then turn on the news, hoping to get the official word on tonight’s assault. Not surprisingly,there isn’t much, just a mention of a shootout at a local nightclub. No details on how many were killed or injured. I don’t know if it’s Dante or the White Guild, but someone is doing a good job of keeping things quiet.

I turn off the TV and decide to try to get some sleep when Cord calls.

“Where are you?” I ask.

“Still at Sangue, our club that was hit. I just stepped outside to get some air. The blood scent in there is oppressive.”

“Yeah, I felt that way at Lupercalia. I don’t know how the Clan members on the police force handle that.”

“They’re trained.”

I don’t even want to know what kind of training that entailed. “I checked the news but there wasn’t much.”

“Dante’s people have put a firm hold on what gets out. He’s worried about the Black Guild hearing about this.”

As well he should be, but I don’t know how he’s going to keep this under wraps. Maybe if it was just his clubs being hit, he could chalk it up to human gang violence or something equally as mundane. The fact that a White Guild property was hit on the same night though screams a vamp hit, which means the Crimson Guild is no longer in control of the city.

“How bad was it?” I ask.

He sighs tiredly. “Eleven humans dead, twenty injured at Lupercalia. Not sure of the vamp count.”

“There were enough to overwhelm the den,” I inform him. “Some serious. One near blood fever.”

“Shit. We lost all but four donors at Sangue, and it’s our biggest club. There were about a dozen injured vamps. Luckily there’s a stocked fridge in the back for emergencies, so there were no blood-related incidents.”

“It’s a good thing they couldn’t get upstairs at Lupercalia, or it could have been a whole lot worse.”

“I know,” he says. “Unfortunately we can’t do that at Crimson Guild dens since they’re open to everyone.”

“Did you manage to catch anyone?”

“No. They were gone before we got here. Dante has a good security force at each den, especially after the recent troubles we’ve had, but there was no warning for this. They came in firing in force and were out in minutes.”

He’s quiet for a minute, then says, “I’m beginning to think you’re right.”

“About what?”